Last updated: 27 October 2026
Peter Halley is the New York painter of fluorescent ‘prisons’ and ‘cells’ who came to fame with the Neo-Geo artists in the 1980s. Here you will find our take on his work, his 2026 shows, and a signed Whitechapel print you can buy in London.
Our take on Peter Halley
Halley paints hard-edged squares he calls prisons and cells, linked by lines he calls conduits, in Day-Glo paint and the textured coating Roll-a-Tex. In 1986 he showed in the Neo-Geo exhibition at Sonnabend Gallery in New York alongside Jeff Koons, Ashley Bickerton and Meyer Vaisman.
He chose fluorescent paint for its look of artificial light: “Day-Glo paint not only did that but produced a kind of technologically generated light,” he told The New York Times in 2023, as reprinted by artdaily. He has also said “human communication was moving onto the electromagnetic spectrum”, which younger viewers now read as an early picture of the internet.
His 2026 shows in Monaco and Tokyo pushed the cells to larger scales. In London, the Whitechapel Gallery still sells a signed edition from its 2015 show.
Peter Halley: the essentials
- Born in New York in 1953.
- Showed in the 1986 Neo-Geo exhibition at Sonnabend Gallery, New York.
- Paints in Day-Glo acrylic and Roll-a-Tex, a textured coating.
- Shown by galleries including Almine Rech and Ceysson & Bénétière.
Peter Halley exhibitions
- Parable, Ceysson & Bénétière, Tokyo, 28 May to 22 August 2026.
- Peter Halley: Recent Paintings, Almine Rech, Monaco, 28 January to 3 April 2026, including White Prison and Purple Prison (both 2025).
- Adventures of the Black Square: Abstract Art and Society 1915 to 2015 (group), Whitechapel Gallery, London, 14 January to 6 April 2015.
- No UK show is on at the moment.
Where to buy a Peter Halley print
One signed edition is on sale in London:
- Black Cell, 2014, £995: digital pigment print, 58.5 x 50.8 cm (23 x 20 in), edition of 20, signed and numbered, made for the Whitechapel’s 2015 show, from the Whitechapel Gallery shop.
Peter Halley FAQs
What is Neo-Geo?
A name given to a group of 1980s New York artists, including Peter Halley and Jeff Koons, after a 1986 show at Sonnabend Gallery.
Why does Peter Halley use fluorescent paint?
He has said Day-Glo paint gave his pictures a kind of technologically generated light.
Can I buy a Peter Halley print in the UK?
Yes. The Whitechapel Gallery sells Black Cell (2014), a signed edition of 20, for £995.
What are Peter Halley’s prisons and cells?
His name for the squares in his paintings, often barred and linked by lines he calls conduits.
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Main image: Peter Halley, Moscow, 2017. Photo: Andrew Tupalev via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Cropped and framed by CoolCuration. Exhibition dates and prices last checked: 27 October 2026.
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